Records were nice, but the real season starts now for Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys

When all the dust settled on a record-breaking night to end a record-breaking regular season for the Dallas Cowboys, quarterback Dak Prescott walked off the field and up the tunnel at Lincoln Financial Field and shot a wink to the media as he walked by, saying “the real (stuff) starts now.”

It was a common theme for the Cowboys amid the glory of a 51-26 victory against Philadelphia Eagles and a muted celebration.

It began on the sideline in the fourth quarter and carried on in the locker room with coach Mike McCarthy’s speech to the team, congratulating the Cowboys on their 12th win of the season but letting them know that a new journey in the playoffs was only beginning.

The Cowboys (12-5) moved up to the No. 3 seed with the Rams and Cardinals both losing Sunday, and will face the San Francisco 49ers at 3:30 p.m. Sunday in an NFC wild card playoff.

“Hell of a job but as we know it starts now,” McCarthy told his team. “When we touch down in Dallas that is the starting line. We are where we need to be. We earned it. When we land, that’s our starting line. It’s going to get real and we’re ready.

“This is the position that we’ve worked to put ourselves in, and we have to make sure we take full advantage of it.”

The Cowboys are ready because they went all out in the season finale against the Eagles with a fireworks show from Prescott and the Cowboys’ offense that put a cap on a record-breaking season.

The Cowboys finished the regular season with a perfect 6-0 record against the NFC East, which is just the third time in team history that Dallas went undefeated against its own division (1969 and 1998).

The Cowboys set an NFL record with 22 players scoring touchdowns in 2021.

The Cowboys are the first team in NFL history to have players with 4,000 passing yards (Prescott, 4,449), 1,000 rushing yards (Ezekiel Elliott, 1,002), 1,000 receiving yards (CeeDee Lamb, 1,102), 10-plus sacks (Micah Parsons, 13.0) and 10-plus interceptions (Trevon Diggs, 11).

They set a franchise record for points in a season with 530 after a 51-point output against the Eagles that marked the first time in club history they have scored 50 points in a road game.

And Prescott, who passed for five touchdowns in the game, set a single-season club record for touchdown passes in a season with 37, surpassing Tony Romo’s previous mark of 36.

Prescott said the Cowboys are proud of what they accomplished but now are focused on reaching the Super Bowl for the first time since the 1995 season.

This is Prescott’s third time to lead the Cowboys into the playoffs since taking over as quarterback in 2016.

“The stats aligned, the way that we finished was great,” he said. “That’s what we wanted to do to carry momentum, get in a rhythm. But none of that matters anymore. You get into this tournament and it’s one game at a time as he just said and it’s a must-win. So that’s the focus and it’s about getting healthy, getting this team healthy and doing what we can to make sure we put ourselves in a great position come next weekend.”

“Line them up, we’re ready to go, and we’re going to look forward to making a good run.”